everything except for me a constellation of tears on your lashes burn everything you love then burn the ashes in the end everything collides my childhood spat back out the monster that you see my songs know what you did in the dark so light 'em up up up light 'em up up up light 'em up up up i'm on fire light 'em up up up light 'em up up up light 'em up up up i'm on fire whoa oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh left left left right left my songs what you did in the dark my songs know what you did

in the dark oh oh oh oh so light 'em up up up light 'em up up up i'm on fire light 'em up up up light 'em up up up light 'em up up up i'm on fire oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: fall out boy. look for their new album in stores starting this may. i want to thank our guests james franco, nigella lawson, christoph waltz, and i want to apologize to matt damon, we ran out of time. "nightline" is next. thanks for watching. good night.

tonight on "nightline," nightmare at sea. thousands stranded aboard a carnival cruise ship that lost power. stories of day four from a va gags gone very wrong. the money man. he's the president's choice to head up the u.s. treasury but he's haunted by a stint at the wall street bank that received a massive taxpayer bailout and whose investors lost millions. fighting for "lincoln". she's up for oscar number three. tonight, sally field tells us about her fight to play the president's wife. >> keep it right here, america. "nightline" is back in just 60

seconds.

from new york city, this is "nightline" with cynthia mcfadden. >> good evening, and thanks for joining us. tonight, a four-day pleasure cruise turned hellish ordeal. 4,200 people are being towed back to shore tonight trapped aboard the carnival cruise ship that lost power in the gulf of mexico sunday. the passengers onboard describe nightmarish scenes of squalor. >> reporter: tonight, stranded at sea. as seen today from above, the carnival triumph being towed to port in mobile, alabama. it is day four of what has turned into the holiday from hell for the more than 4,000 people onboard. bethany is aboard, they spoke briefly before the phone cut

out. >> all you hear on those phone calls is crying and talking about i'm gonna die, i'm gonna die. >> reporter: rob and stephanie had hoped for a beautiful wedding at sea. married on the ship just a few days ago. they are now spending their honeymoon in squalor. the sparkling city on the sea topped with pools, food, and boow? seen in better times in these carnival ads was far from the dream vacation when the ship went dark sunday as it sailed from mexico back to galveston, texas. it started wha eed when a fire in one of the engine rooms. it burned out the four engines. >> there's no lights, no water. we can't flush. >> reporter: and barlow seen here hamming it up before boarding the triumph in galveston texted a chronicle of misery. there is sewer running down the walls and floors. we are camping on deck. passenger shelly crosby texted

us we just stood in line for four hours to get a hamburger. with scant news and few images from the ship or passengers, we flew 100 miles from shore earlier today toxd find the triumph. carnival dispatched a third tug boat out today to help assist in towing the ship to port. have you ever seen anything like that? >> we're used the seeing boats out here and riggs, but as far as cruise ships in distress, no. >> reporter: we saw no visible damage, but we did see curious passengers on deck looking up at us. deck chairs seem to have been converted into beds. but sleeping outside will be increasingly miserable during the voyage's final hours in the cold rain. with the ship rung on emergency generators, its communications are also crippled, leaving family members tonight frantic. >> she was scared. she was crying, mom, i'm so scared. >> reporter: mary drove through the night from lufkin, texas, to

be here, hoping to be the first to see their 11 and 12-year-old daughters. >> my baby is on there and i don't know that she's okay. >> reporter: for three days not a single carnival cruise line representative appeared publicly until president jerry cahill spoke tuesday. >> we obviously are very, very sorry about what has taken place.on that conditions onboard the ship are very challenging. everyone shore side is doing everything they can to make our guests as comfortable as possible. >> reporter: and then later that very same night, carnival owner did appear publicly at a miami heat game, a team he owns, but that picture ignited anger online. >> these people got on their ship expecting a fun vacation. safe to say this has not happened. the conditions, from what we know, onboard the ship are quite bad. >> reporter: this is the third time in a month this very ship has had engine trouble. the triumph had to limp back to port on its two previous voiages.

and in 2010, another carnival ship lost propulsion a few days from land and required spectacular rescue. navy choppers flown in dropped 70,000 pounds of supplies, including lots of spam. they were aboard that voyage in 2010 and recall that nightmare. >> we started to smell some smoke coming into our cabin. >> it was a -- the announcement over the loud speaker woke everybody up and we knew then that there was something serious. >> reporter: things can go spectacularly wrong on cruise ships. just over a year ago, the costa concordia collided with rocks just off the coast of tuscany. 32 people died. but travel experts say those are the exceptions and that no one on the carnival triumph is in any imminent danger. >> the people onboard that ship are horribly uncomfortable. but, from everything we know, they are not in any danger. so at the very minimum, carnival

seems to be keeping them safe. >> reporter: tonight as the ship is towed to shore, the port of mobile is dealing with the delicate task of docking the boat. and perhaps the most delicate maneuver for carnival cruise lines, dealing with the disembarking passengers for the holiday that wasn't. >> well, today carnival cruise lines announced that in addition to issuing a full refund for the cruise, it will give each passenger at least 500 additional dollars in compensation. next, the angry investor still battling the wall street bank whose bailout cost taxpayers millions, and what president obama's pick for treasury secretary has to do with it. [ stefan ] with a cold or flu, nighttime nasal congestion can be the worst part. my medicine alone doesn't always give me all the congestion relief i need to sleep. [ female announcer ] adding breathe right nasal strips

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ever since barack obama called them fat cat bankers, the president's relationship with wall street has been less than cozy. but today saw a strange twist. the president's choice for treasury secretary had to defend his time as a wall street insider. while republicans railed against bailout bonuses within banks once considered too big to fail. the same banks whose investors lost millions in the financial meltdown. my co-anchor bill weir has the story. >> reporter: a ghost of the financial crisis came to haunt congress today in a most unlikely form. >> there are risks that we need

to be very much on guard against. >> reporter: his name is jack lew, a guy with one of the most sterling reputations in washington. >> mr. president, it's an honor to be here. >> reporter: as a loyal and low-key numbers crunching wonk, he has worked his way up to president chief of staff. >> wall street dives more than 360 points. >> reporter: but a few years ago, as the american economy was melting down, jack lew was an executive at citigroup, which is described as the most toxic of all those troubled banks. >> they were the poster child in need of government aid. >> reporter: citigroup needed three government bailouts. over $460 billion in taxpayer dollars and loan guarantees just to survive. but at the same time, they still managed the pay lew a bonus of nearly $1 million. >> explain why it might be morally acceptable to take close the a million dollars out of company that was functionally insolvent.

>> in 2008, i was an employee in the private sector, i was compensated in a manner consistent with other people who did the kind of work that i did in the industry. >> reporter: lew's tenure included a post as the chief operating officer of alternative investments. in 2008, when he arrived the division was in deep trouble. bleeding money. both investors and citibank's own financial advisers were in open revolt which you can see in internal e-mails obtained by abc news. i'm watching a slow-motion movie of my life being destroyed, reads one with a subject line "i'm frightened." it was written by skip sussman, one of citi's own financial advisers. it drips with desperation. i have not slept in a month, he wrote. my wife looks at me, begins to cry and asks what are we going to do? i'm crying now just writing this. >> it was like a slow water torture of pain on a daily base as clients would call in asking me how could i have done this to

them. >> reporter: the source of his pain, investment funds called mat and falcon created by citigroup and sold by hundreds of advisers like skip to thousands of clients like chris. >> as the mat provides investors with a stable above market return. >> reporter: jersey guy looking to park some of his self-made wealth safe. his adviser steered him to citi and chris bought a million dollars worth of mat 5, one of the funds built around low-risk municipal bonds. >> pretty much as low on the risk scale as you can get. >> reporter: that's what you were looking for. what was it really? >> within a year period, it went to zero. i lost everything. >> reporter: chris, his adviser and many others say they didn't know that these investments were really kind of a hedge fund, the sort of risky investment that can go bad fast. >> i wouldn't have invested, it wasn't for me. >> reporter: as it all came crashing down in 2008, e-mails like this showed the level of anger and panic within citigroup's ranks. my integrity has always meant more to me than anything else,

wrote a financial adviser in despair. i trusted you, i trusted the fund manager, i trusted citi. on one of the angry conference calls, an adviser named jennifer krauss summed it up. >> the clients got duped. >> reporter: jack was not at the alternative investment wing when mat and falcon were sold. he insists his duties were administrati administrative. >> i was aware of things that were going on. i learned a great deal about the financial products. but i wasn't designing them and i wasn't opining on them. >> reporter: but it was there for the implosion and the aftermath, a time when advisers were begging citibank to do the right thing and make customers whole. but instead of offering full refunds, citi offered around 20 cents on the dollar in exchange for silence. >> they offered me $50,000 for me to waive my rights essentially. >> reporter: most people took that deal but chris was too angry. >> the people that are managing these funds are so separated

from the skin in the game that they become so arrogant and disconnected from the actual emotion of wow, we just lost two billion dollars worth of customer money, it meant nothing to them. >> reporter: he built the bullet, hired expensive lawyers and went into arbitration, a long shot. what did you think your chances were? >> i thought they were zero. >> reporter: but then he saw the e-mails from inside citi. >> all the facts of the case were overwhelming. i didn't know if i was going to get all my money back, but i was convinced that the panel would rule in my favor. >> reporter: and they did. >> they did. they gave me 100% of my money back. >> reporter: he's not alone. so far citi group has been forced to pay back at least $85 million, as 14 arbitration panels around the country ruled against them. they've also settled with dozens more. but the bank insists they adequately disclosed the risks to advisers and investors and admit no wrong doing. we believe citi acted appropriately at all times, a

spokesperson said in an e-mail, we disagree with those arbitration panels that have ruled against citi. >> we are in the midst of a horrendous recession right now. >> reporter: two years ago during his confirmation to head the office of management and budget, lew was asked if he thought looser regulations on wall street led to the financial collapse. >> i don't consider myself an expert in some of these aspects of the financial industry. my experience in the financial industry has been as a manager, not as an investment adviser. >> reporter: but now as treasury secretary, lew will be tasked with making sure too big to fail never happens again. >> it does reinforce a cynicism that wall street runs this town. but again, it's the president's pick. i assume he weighed all those factors into the analysis of deciding to nominate mr. lew. >> reporter: the white house declined our request for an interview with lew, and by all indications the president will get his wish and he will sail through confirmation. >> i've practiced law, i've worked at a university, i've

worked at a financial institution. i think if i hadn't had a set of experiences like that, i wouldn't be sitting here today speaking with confidence that i could undertake the responsibilities of secretary of the treasury. >> it should be noted that not only did the treasury department fully recover the $45 billion it invested in citi, it made an additional return of more than $13 billion. next up, the role that almost wasn't. how sally field fought for the role of mary todd lincoln and earned a shot at oscar number three. when she's sad, she writes about goblins. [ balloon pops, goblin growling ] she wrote a lot about goblins after getting burned in the market. but she found someone to talk to and gained the confidence to start investing again. ♪ and that's what you call a storybook ending. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

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if you're looking for proof that sally field was dedicated to winning the role she played in steven spielberg's movie "lincoln," consider this. she agreed to gain 25 pounds to play the part. yet it was her secret challenges she says off screen that

propelled her performance forward. here's abc's chris connelly for our series "oscar confidential." >> sally field has been a beloved part of american pop culture for nearly a half century. >> wow, i learned my lesson. >> from her '60s sitcom, "smoky and the bandit" in the '70s. >> why so fast, you late for a big bowling date? >> reporter: and forrest gump in the '70s. today at 66, she has as best actress academy awards as meryl streep does. still, she was undaunted and unabashed to play mary todd lincoln in steven spielberg's "lincoln." >> i'm proud of the film. i'm proud of my work in the film. i'm proud i fought to get in it. >> reporter: proud too to have done it all while deep in the throes of a personal heartbreak

she has never before discussed. >> once, mrs. lincoln, i demand of you to try. >> reporter: yet this acclaimed performance, for which she gained 25 pounds, nearly didn't happen despite spielberg's initial enthusiasm for her playing the part. because even though steven had said you're my mary todd lincoln, what had happened? >> i just knew that it would be a battle. because i'm ten years older than daniel and mary was ten years younger than lincoln. i'm 20 years older than what mary was. it's just not going to work. >> reporter: but spielberg decided to give her one final chance. the customarily reclusive day-lewis had offered to fly from ireland to los angeles for the day to act with her. >> when he walked across the room, i was signature at mary and i did not rise until he was literally next to me and gave him my hand, and he kissed it, and i said mr. lincoln. and he said mother. and i whispered thank you. and he kissed the top of my head

and said "my honor." and it will be one of the things i remember forever and ever and ever. >> reporter: as she drove home, day-lewis and spielberg called to say she had won the role. >> and action. >> no one's ever been loved so much by the people. >> reporter: that performance earned field a supporting actress oscar nomination. it already stands as a pinnacle of an acting career transformed by a key moment of self-assertion way back in 1972. what happened when you told your agent i don't want to do tv anymore, i want to do movies? >> they said well, it's foolish. you'll never work. you're not pretty enough. you're not good enough. i said you're fired. and my business manager said the same thing. and i said you're fired. i just fired everybody. and i left my husband. it was like out!